Laundry ironing machine



April 1940- J. E. POINTON El AL 37 LAUNDRY IRQNING MACHINE v S Sheets Sheet 1 Filed larch 18', 1958 9 UUU a 5 M F J -1 m w t R Q ..m F- J F L@1--m F ift 9 H F1! 11. I I: o fi fi a? w w N m Hi? a F W w W D o P A k H 1|: IliL N a L.& h N a L r J F r v April 2, 1940- J. E. POINTON El Al. I 2,195,937

LAUNDRY IRONING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed larch 18, 1938 m o my D re m uv T W xD v Patented Apr. 2, 19.40

I LAUNDRY IRONING MACHINE I John Edward Pointon, David Yeo Bartholomew Tanqueray,

and Frank Dewhurst,

Peterborough, England, assignors to Baker Perkins Limited, Peterborough, England Application March 18, 1938, Serial No. 196,786

In Great Britain March -12, 1937 3 Claims. (o1. 38-66) This invention relates to laundry ironingmachines, either of the single or multiple heated bed type and has more particular reference to the ironing beds therefor. I

The ironing beds of these machines when of cast iron construction are liable to crack even if carefully heated up by the operator; beds which have been installed some time may on occasion crack for no apparent reason when the steam for heating is turned on in the usual way. It has been found that if beds instead of being cast hollow in the well known way are made of solid form with steam heating'pipes running therethrough there is no liability of cracking during operation but owing to the lengthand cross-sectional shape of the beds they are subjected todistortion under heat. These problems have been.

, substantially equalising the stresses due to expans'ion (or contraction) on heating (or cooling) on either side of a horizontal planecontaininga neutral axis. The neutral axislis thought'to be that passing through or near the centre of gravity of the bed.v 1 j The balancing of the stresses to preserve the longitudinal rectitude of the bed may be obtained by controlling. the admission of steam to the pipes, as for example by initially admitting steam to certain only of the pipes and later, after the bed has been heated to a temperature approaching the ultimate temperature required, or other predetermined temperature, admitting steam to the remaining pipes to raise the temperature to that .finally required. By raising the temperature of the bed in stages it has been found that there is no substantial distortion and that the shape of the bed is preserved adequately for all practical purposes.

The balancing or equalisation may be efiected either by predetermining the steam pipe heating area on. opposite sides of the horizontal plane containing the neutral axis to compensate for the distorting stresses, as by embedding the steam pipes to different depths, varying the number and/or diameter of the pipes, or by. distributing the heating means equally over the bed area and adjusting the centre of gravity plane by adding metal to that part of the bed which lies below said plane to render the heating area on one side of the plane substantially equal to-that ,onithe other side.

PATENT OFFICE In the accompanying drawings which illustrate two forms of a bed section'for a multiple roll ironer, 1 I

Figure 1 is an inverted plan of one form of bed plate,

Figure 2 is a side elevation,

Figure 3 is a cross section on Figure 1, I

Figure 4. is a diagrammatic view showing the coupling of the steam pipes,

Figure 5 is a cross section of a-modified arrangement of the bed plate and steam pipes.

In carrying the invention into effect according to one convenient mode'as described by way of example and wherein the equalisation of stresses is effected by the controlled admission of steam into the steam pipes, an ironing bed section 20. of the usual contour for a multiple bed ironing machine, that is to say, having a-concave trough portion 2I with convex portions 22 at either side each constituting one-half of the crest between the trough portions of the beds of the machine, is castnin the form of a solid curved plate with a set of] steam tubes numbered I to I6 which are partially embedded in the lower side of the plate.

'I'he set of tubes may be equally spaced and symthe line 3-4 of:

seen in FigureB. Ina bed of this character the theconvex portions 22.

According to the distribution of the steam pipes shown, three (I4, I5 and I6) and-two and one half (I, 2 and part. of 3) pipes lie above the neutral plane :1:, x in the right and left crest por tions respectively while below the neutral plane ten and one half (part of'ifand 4 to I3). pipes are located below the neutral plane. This pro-'- portion may vary according to the pitch of pipes, or other circumstances as may be required.

The pipes are connected in parallel to steam supply and exhaust headers and according to a suitable arrangement for heating the beds in two stages certain of the pipes are connected to separate headers or. otherwise provided with means so that steam may be separately admitted to such pipes. With an arrangement of i6 pipes in each bed disposed as indicated above, counting from one. end, Nos. I, 3, I, I0, I3 and I5 are connected bypipes 23 (see Figure 4) to one supply header 24 or under the control of one valve and constitute one set of pipes,whilst the Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, H, l2, l4 and is form the second set and are connected by pipes 25 to another header 25 or under the control of another valve. The pipes 23 and 25 are connected to the respective pipes l to H5 by nipples 29.

The first set of pipes is coupled to an exhaust header 21, while the second set is coupled to an exhaust header 28.

It is preferred to arrange the inlet headers 24 and 28 at opposite ends of the bed section.

It will be appreciated that the inlet and exhaust headers 2 25, 2'! and 23 extend the full length of the ironer bed and are connected to a series of bed sections similar to that illustrated. Alternatively, each bed section in a multiple ironer may be provided with its own headers so that the temperature conditions of the several sections may be independently controlled.

In operating according to the above described form of the invention, steam is admitted to the first set of pipes through the header 2G for a period and until the bed has reached a temperature of about 275 F. or other predetermined temperature. When this temperature has been reached steam is admitted to the second set or remaining pipes through the header 2% so that the temperature of the bed is brought up to 310 F. or to any required temperature.

It will be noted that the bed plate 20 gradually thickens in cross section from the crest or convex portions 22 to the central concave trough portion 2! which has the effect of lowering the position of the neutral plane ;c--:c.

In casting a bed plate 253 the pipes l to 16 are held in their proper position by spaced plates 30, the ends 3! of which are cast into lugs 32 on the bed plate.

With another arrangement Nos. I, 2, 3, 5, l, 9. II, It, M, 15 and I6 are connected to one header, whilst Nos. 4, 8, H3 and (2 are connected to another header. Any other arrangement of pipes may be adopted to secure an equal or approximately equal distribution of the stresses during the first heating stage.

In carrying the invention into effect according to another mode (see Figure 5) the steam pipes 33 are embedded at suitably spaced intervals in a bed plate 34 of the general form already described. Below the trough portion of the bed, however, additional metal in the form, for example of an I-shaped girder part 35, is cast in with the bed, or the bed is cast with a flattened .portion adapted to be machined and to receive the machined face of an I-girder or other rib of suitable form to add substance to the bed. Alternatively, the separately attached mass of metal may be made practically integral with the bed by bolting it to the bed with an intermediate conducting layer of copper or other metal. According to this arrangement the horizontal plane containing the neutral axis of the bed is lowered to such a degree that the number of pipes or heating area above said plane is the same or substantially the same as that below, so that the stresses tending to distort the bed longitudinally are substantially balanced. The girder part 35 may be heated by the provision of steam pipes embedded or partially embedded in such part. In a somewhat similar manner the stresses may be balanced in a bed of curved plate form of uniform cross-section by differentially embedding the steam pipes above and below the neutral plane, or by making the heating area of the pipes above the plane balance those below the plane by increasing the number of pipes on one side and by placing them closer together or by making the pipes of different cross-sectional shape, or by substituting pipes of smaller diameter at closer pitch. In some circumstances it may be desirable to effect a balancing of the stresses by combining one or more of the modes above described, for example the desired effect may be secured partly by steam control and partly by a constructional arrangement.

We claim:

1. In an ironing apparatus the combination of a plate having a central concave portion and convex end portions, a plurality of steam pipes carried by the plate, said steam pipes being divided into two groups, the pipes of one group being separated by the pipes of the other group, and two steam headers, one connected to each of the two groups of pipes, whereby one group of pipes may be heated independently of the other group to effect a stage heating of the plate.

2. In an ironing apparatus, the combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pipes lie in both the concave portion and the convex end portions.

3. In an ironing apparatus, the combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pipes of each group lie in both the concave portion and the convex end portions.

JOHN EDWARD POINTON.

DAVID YEO BARTHOLOME'W TANQUERAY.

FRANK DEWVHURST. 

